The Council of Europe Youth Department invites all young bloggers and online activists concerned by human rights violations, hate speech online, discrimination and racism to apply for the training course taking place between May 2012 and December 2013, comprising a residential seminar between 20-27 May 2012 in the European Youth Centre Budapaest as a first stage in their involvement in a long term online campaign against racism, xenophobia and discrimination. Further information about the project, the training course and the application process can be found in the document attached.

Young People Combating Hate Speech On-line is a project of the Council of Europe’s youth sector to be run between 2012 and 2014. The project aims to combat racism and discrimination in their online expression of hate speech by equipping young people and youth organisations with the competences necessary to recognise and act against such human rights violations. The project stands for equality in dignity, human rights and diversity.

The training course will bring together young bloggers and online activists motivated and willing to further take action and play a central role in the campaign development.

The course objectives are:

• to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes of participants in respect to human rights and human rights protection particularly in online environments;
• to enable participants to recognise human rights violations online, particularly acts of racism and discrimination, hate speech online and supporting them in taking action against these violations;
• to associate the participants with the preparation of the media campaign and other activities in the project;
• to provide participants space and time to share different experiences of working in online environment and on topics of the project;
• to discuss and reflect on the types and forms that hate speech takes online and the effects it has on young people;
• to familiarise participants with the work of the Council of Europe in the field of antiracism and anti-discrimination, as well as in respect to Internet governance;
• to discuss and plan the next steps to be taken together in the framework of the campaign, supporting participants in initiating their online minicampaigns;
• to set up a network of young activists and youth organisations aiming to be the core of the campaign.

The dead-line for applications is 19 April 2012. You can apply here: http://youthapplications.coe.int.

Contact:
Anca-Ruxandra Pandea
Educational Advisor
Council of Europe - Youth Department, Education and Training Division
anca-ruxandra.pandea[at]coe.int